Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also referenced past character death. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: I took a T-Swift song that was bouncy and wrote something sad.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: La Vie Boheme; Not the Mama; Fix-It Felix; Slytherin MC; Magical MC (x3); Professor MC; Rian-Russo Inversion (x3); Ethnic & Present (x3); Tiny Terrors (x2); Booger Breath; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Knightly Era; Old Shoes (Y); In a Flash; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 02
Subject (Task No.): Medicine (Task#5: Write about holding onto something.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [23](Salazar Slytherin); 365 Prompts [149](Salazar Slytherin); Scavenger Hunt [29](Grandparents & Grandchild); Auction [3.1] ("I Knew You Were Trouble" - Taylor Swift)
Other MC4A Challenges: SuB [4C](Farm/Ranch); AU [2D](Vampire); Chim [Dextrin]("Wait for It" from Hamilton); Ship (Green Badgers) [SuMic2 (Green); 1D (20 Questions)];Garden [Mixed Bag (Family)]; Fire (Flasher)
Representation(s): Basque Salazar Slytherin raising two Basque foundlings; Found Fam; Vampire AU
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Abandoned Ship; Surprise!; Second Verse (Deadliest Catch; Unwanted Advice; Nontraditional; Found Family; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: SN (Rail; Ameliorate); O3 (Oath)
Word Count: 748 words

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Trouble with Love
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Arima noticed a lot of things that she knew her grandfather wished she didn't. Then she would compound the issue by telling her twin Tubal. Together, they would always manage to get into some kind of situation. But it had been that since they had come to live with Abuelo, after the deaths of their parents.

She shuddered as she remembered waking up to her home full of flames and smoke and ash. The villagers had done it, she had known without even needing to ask. The blacksmith's son had seen Arima healing Tubal's scraped knee earlier in the day. She knew she should have said something to Padre and Mamá. She knew how scared the magic that she and Tubal could do scared people, even if they had never used it to hurt anyone.

She should have told them. Maybe if she had, they would not have been caught by surprise when the villagers had come. Maybe they would still be alive.

But then, if their parents had not died, then they wouldn't have need to run away. That meant they would never have met Abuelo, and Arima was convinced that he needed them as much as they needed him, especially at the beginning. She had noticed so many things that told her that, and none of it was that Abuelo liked to tell them how much of a blessing he thought them to be.

Abuelo was older than he looked. He tended to get caught up in projects and forget to do things necessary for all living creatures. Some days, he would get lost in memories, too. Arima could tell that he was missing someone on those days, just as much as she and Tubal missed their parents. She wondered if maybe it was for the same reason, and she thought that it would have to be. Who would leave Abuelo by choice?

"Who are you missing, Abuelo Salazar?" she asked one of the days when Abuelo was staring out the ceiling windows of their solarium like he was hoping for someone to drop through the pale green glass. He turned his gaze tiredly towards her, like it took a lot of effort to do the simple motion when the sun was making the space so warm and humid. "They must be very special special for you to miss them so."

"Helga was…" He seemed to lose the will to speak for several long moments. Arima is fine waiting. She would wait forever to hear the story, and not just because it meant having an excuse to pause in the middle of pruning the plants growing in the glass-covered room. "Helga was beyond compare. We taught together."

"Magic?" Tubal piped up from nearby where he was gently loosening the soil around some plants. "Like what you teach me and Ari?"

"Yes, magic," Abuelo agreed, warming to his tale now. He gave them both a sad smile. "We founded a school, you know. It was in a beautiful castle in the hills of Scotland."

"Why did you leave?" Arima asked. Suddenly, she was overcome with a wave of absolute fury. "Why didn't Helga come with you?"

"Helga died," Abuelo said in a very even tone of voice, like he couldn't bear putting any emotion into the words because doing so would make him shatter into pieces. "I loved her too much to stay there when she was no longer there, even if I would never be able to let go of her memory."

"I will never fall in love," Arima vowed right then and there, because it just didn't seem worth it. What was the point if all it mean was this endless grief? Why would anyone bother with it at all?

"Oh, precious one," Abuelo scolded, "I wish you all of the luck in the world in keeping that oath, but I know you will wind up breaking it, and let me tell you a secret." He leaned forward with a grin that showed off his fangs. "You will be in the best trouble of your life for doing so. As my dear Helga used to say: the greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Arima rolled her eyes and returned to her pruning. Abuelo was wrong. He was just old. He didn't understand the world anymore. She would prove it to him with time.

It was the best thing that she ever failed at in her life.